By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Poaching and other illegal practices by recreational boaters have increased by 70-80 percent over the past decade to become a bigger threat to Bahamian fisheries than the Dominicans, it was argued yesterday.

Adrian LaRoda, president of The Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA), told Tribune Business ahead of the 2025 crawfish season’s official start today that abuses and violations by US “day trippers” and other visiting boaters are “becoming more of an issue” when it comes to protecting this nation’s fisheries stocks.

In contrast, following a crackdown by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and other law enforcement authorities, he revealed that there have been no officially confirmed sightings of Dominican poachers in Bahamian waters for the past three years.

With one threat declining and another emerging, Mr LaRoda told this newspaper that Bahamian fishermen, wholesale processors and exporters are seeking a higher “two-digit” per pound starting price this crawfish season as opposed to the $9 single-digit one that was paid last year.

Anticipating that the industry will match, and possibly even succeed 2024’s performance where “a lot of harvesters were able to break even”, the BCFA chief credited the “tremendous decline in poaching” by organised Dominican fisheries groups for the improved replenishment of crawfish stocks that the industry is enjoying.

And, disclosing that fishermen are “just waiting for the bell to ring” today so that they can begin the legal harvesting of crawfish, Mr LaRoda said that - apart from illegal harvesting by visiting boaters - among the greatest challenges facing the industry is the price of fuel, especially on the Family Islands, where it is always more expensive than in Nassau.

“Poaching by Dominicans has declined considerably,” he told this newspaper. “As a matter of fact, there have been almost no sightings of Dominicans in The Bahamas over the past three years. There have been no real reports of such.”

While there have been isolated claims of Dominican sightings on social media, these remain unconfirmed. “A problem for us now,, and becoming more of an issue, is day trippers and people coming from Florida,” Mr LaRoda said. “They come over and do illegal fishing. That’s becoming a bigger problem for us.

“It’s increased, in the last ten years, I would say by 70-80 percent - certainly compared to ten years ago. Just about everybody in Florida has a boat and are able to come over to The Bahamas in three to four hours, do they’re fishing in a day, and go back. Not a lot of fishermen fish north of Grand Bahama so that is open to illegal fishing by Americans.”

Such boaters lack the necessary Bahamian permits and approvals to conduct fisheries activities in this nation’s waters. While some of this results from ignorance, others have seemingly been only too willing to ignore and flout this nation’s laws, catching fish for commercial purposes and seeking to sell them illicitly back in the US.

The challenge referred to by Mr LaRoda was highlighted by the arrest of the sports fishing vessel, Highly Migratory, and its US crew earlier this year. They were subsequently charged with operating a commercial fishing charter without the required Bahamian permits and licences. The crew pled not guilty and the case remains live before this nation’s court system.

“We are looking forward to a good season this year,” the BCFA president told this newspaper. “Matter of fact, if all goes well, we should have a better season than last year. Last year was good; a lot of operators were able to break even last year, the harvesters. We’re hoping for this again because poaching has decreased tremendously.

“Coming out of the season last year, we saw a lot of juvenile crawfish still out there, still around the traps. There was such an amount to give confidence that they will mature over the next year, the next two years. We didn’t see as much juvenile crawfish when poaching was at its peak. We’re happy. We’re looking forward.

“Fortunately the weather has been co-operative. A number of divers are already out at the fishing grounds waiting for the bell to ring, so tomorrow [today] they will start harvesting. Last year was a good year. We didn’t have any storms. If everything goes as we pray it would, we should have a comparable season in 2025.”

The per pound price that crawfish will fetch, at least in the season’s initial stages, remains a concern. “This is always a big conversation around this time of year,” Mr LaRoda confirmed. “It’s still up in the air. There’s no definitive pricing. We had this conversation up to yesterday: How can we establish the starting price?

“We’re hoping that the starting price after the first trip will be in the mid-single digits (around $15). Last year we started in the single digits. I don’t want to call a figure, but we’re looking for a two-digit number as compared to last year’s number, which started in the single digits; it started around $9. We’re definitely looking for more this time around.”

As for catch volume, Mr LaRoda said the industry remains “within our harvest control, which is four million pounds”. He added: “I don’t expect to see more than that. Less is sometimes more in terms of the dollar value we get than having a lot of product to sell. I sometimes prefer less than more.

“I’d not like to see an increase in the amount of product we can harvest in a given year. With the harvest control rule, the Government has the ability at mid-season, half-way through the season, if the industry is coming close to four million pounds, it has the right to say no more harvesting.”

As for other potential impediments to a successful 2025-2026 crawfish season, Mr LaRoda said: “Our challenge is always the cost of fuel. It’s an operational cost and we cannot somehow ever seem to see a decrease in it. All things being equal, as long as we don’t have any adverse weather that causes us to lose fish, we should be OK.” He noted that in some Family Islands, diesel costs up to $9 per gallon.

Still, the BCFA chief said The Bahamas’ consistent quality and volume of crawfish exports enables it to outshine competitors. “Our product is very strong because we’ve been consistently able to export tails between eight to ten ounces. It’s through that consistency that we’re able to stay ahead of the game.

“With the European market, the Africans’ product does not have the consistency of ours. Belize and Mexico, the same thing. Belize has a maximum size for crawfish tails so their product is smaller than ours. As long as we’re able to export a quality product consistently we’ll be ahead of the game. It’s been working for us for the past 18 years, and we hope to continue doing that.”